


A Knight and A Soldier

by Royalrastafariannaynays



Series: In Name and In Deed [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Cannot be read independent from the main fic, Class and Aspects as magic types, Dragon Riders, Dragons, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Magic, POV Dave Strider, Wedding, ambiguous time period
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 21:10:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7284895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Royalrastafariannaynays/pseuds/Royalrastafariannaynays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're a dragon rider. </p><p>You're heading back home for your best friend's wedding.</p><p>You're antsy to see your other friend again. The grumpy veteran with all the issues.  The one you can't wait to see. </p><p>Your name is Dave Strider, and you've been away from home for too long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Knight and A Soldier

**Author's Note:**

> HEY! This is a POV sidefic for my Fantasy AU, In Name and In Deed! If you haven't read that, I highly recommend it. Otherwise this won't make a lot of sense! 
> 
> This chapter parallels with Chapter 16, or Episode 15, of that fic. :) 
> 
> I hope my readers enjoy!

_“Dave!”_

Jolting out of a deep daydream is never pleasant. Turns out it’s even less pleasant when it’s both your brother and Aradia. The former has thrown something at you, if the stinging on your bicep is any indication. The latter is so close to your face, you think the next step to getting your attention might have been licking you upside the head. 

Dragon spit takes so _long_ to get out of hair once it’s crusted. 

You had crazy locks as a kid, enough said on that subject.

“What?” You ask, more than a little irritably. Traveling back to town has made you antsy. You’ve been cropping it up to being anxious to see Karkat again, on top of the stress from the trip and training. It always feels a little tenser going home again. For whatever reason. 

_It’s time to go, silly! Dirk (Gold-Kin-human) packed everything (mostly everything) up already except your bed cloth (roll, pillow, !!!blanket!!!)! (I ate the leftover firewood!)_

Aradia’s muzzle opens slightly, and her tongue lolls out, doglike. It’s difficult to resist grinning at her. You don’t curb the urge, and rub your hand over her snout a few times. Her eyelashes, barely-there visibly but longer than your hand, flutter on your wrist. 

Her words to you are a little scattered, excited, meanings getting more jumbled and confused as her energy grows. The thoughts overlap messily in your head, as if misplaced in time, all linked back to their order in the more linear function of communication. But it’s not uncomfortable. Your two similar magics meshing have always done this. As far as you know, her words come across very clearly to others.

_Come on come on (come on! Came on! Will come has come)! I can hardly wait, we get to see Karkat (angry male human black hair red eyes dearest) today and his (brood mother fish treat giver warm voice rough hands) and oh is it going to be(has been) good! Come on (come on) come on!_

**_Alright, alright, I’m coming._**

Sometimes you just let it happen. Sometimes you intentionally slip into it for meditation. You get lost sometimes in thinking, separated from yourself. Watching a leaf live and die, grass growing. Invisible stars in the day sky moving. The seam on your shirt slowly deteriorating. Dirk says it’s normal, and not to worry. He goes through something similar, but he’s better at controlling it at this point, and has a soul tether in his emblem. Of course, his magic isn’t attached to the timeline, so he used to have to manually reattach portions of his soul. Because it splits, apparently.

It sounds terrifying.

It makes you get a little sucked into thought again. You slip your arms over your head and stretch your shoulders before standing up and rolling together the rest of your things. 

Man, you should go to the cave when you get back. Center Aradia’s magic for a bit. Couldn’t hurt.

Aradia pushes you with her nose, and turns a quick circle around you before very purposefully digging her claws into the sand. You barely have time to close your eyes before she’s kicking sand up at you, and you’re laughing. You can feel the grit in her claws and between her scales, she can feel the dust in your teeth.

“Stop goofing off, we have a schedule to keep,” Dirk says, always the stickler for rules and timing. It got worse when he bonded with Damara, you remember that much. You also like being on time, and it used to be pretty bad. Thank the Light you’ve learned to control that impulse. It wasn’t too rough, though. Never being late. 

“What, are you thinking about our brave colonel again?” Dirk asks you when you don’t immediately respond. You can feel your face heat, and Damara starts chuff-laughing in the background. Aradia giggles in your connection. “He didn’t even send you a very long letter, and you spent _so_ long writing the first one.”

“I just like having contact with someone back home. Besides, he’s my friend,” you provide, brushing the sand off of your arms. Your brother’s teasing is good-natured. Mostly. 

“Yeah, I’m sure. With how much you talk about him, that _completely_ makes sense,” Dirk replies. 

You kick some sand at Dirk.

“I do not talk about him that much.”

He growls at you as he wipes the graininess off his face. 

Damara’s dulcet tones ring in your head. _Please refrain from doing that, small-stupid. Fucking idiot getting sand in your nest-mate’s eyes, like the putrid steaming semen of the ocean in mine._

Aradia barks out a few laughs, shaking the curl of her horns weightily before letting loose a small schreech. Damara, a few yards away, huffs out a breath of laughter through her nose. She’s more mature, having had a few decades being a hatchling on earth before Aradia came around a little late. Her speech patterns are… annoying to get used to, though.

Dirk throws Aradia the last two hares just as you’re hooking your leg over her back. 

She swallows them in a few bites. Their blood is delicious on your tongue even before Aradia burns them in her throat.

That will _never_ not be creepy.

_Sister (kin-gold-dragon) said Dirk (Gold-Kin-human) got used to it!_

 

 

* * *

 

You wouldn’t have married either of your past relationships. Well, the ones that counted as relationships. You didn’t have very many flings while traveling; that was more Dirk’s thing, despite what a workaholic he could be. And how many people sent you too-affectionate fan letters while you were in their town. You and Jade were twelve when you got crushes on each other, it didn’t count. That tool Eridan didn’t count either, he was just some rich kid you met on the race circuit. And maybe you had a steamy thing with him for about a week, but you kept seeing his timeline and it just kept getting shorter and shorter in dramatic bursts. 

That was a point where you were still getting used to something: you and Aradia had broken a barrier in meditation, and suddenly you were seeing people’s relative time left. You were seventeen, and it was a really painful part of your life. 

You actually spent a lot of that trip looking down at the ground. For whatever reason, you couldn’t see your family’s lifespans. You’re glad to this day.

When you got home from that trip, you and Aradia agreed to let Mom put a block on that ability. You don’t poke it. Coincidentally, shortly after you got home from that trip, you entered your first ‘real’ relationship. Tavros was in town, visiting the Earl on an extended observation visit from his uncle. And man, did you think he was cute. Just what you needed, too. 

He helped you get back on your feet. Got along great with Aradia, was a little timid, but damn if he wasn’t the kindest boy your fragile and traumatized heart needed. Sometimes you wonder what happened to him. 

Your last relationship… it ended messy. You and Terezi worked out because you both understood the need to work with your dragons, to have them be part of the relationship, blah blah blah. Among your other… things. Your relationship lasted three years, through letters written and her time spent in the village. She and Vriska would spend months at a time in Seahaven, training with you and your brother, and then you would spend time together on the race circuit. The competition made the sex pretty great.

Vriska and John had a thing. You don’t talk about it. It sucked.

Eventually, though, the competition got in the way of your relationship. There was fighting, and a bunch of other gross crap that you don’t like to think about. But… you made up. And you’re great friends, now. Have been for the past three years since you decided to stop letting it go to pieces. 

Whatever. You’re daydreaming again, and right now is about John.

John is nearly vibrating with excitement. He and Roxy were already unofficially married, with the dragon bonding, but he seems unable to contain himself anyway. 

He’s smiling fit enough to catch a whole cloud of dust in his mouth. Several minutes ago Aradia stopped chatting with you from the roof, choosing instead to fly around with Equius and her sister. All you have to occupy you now is John, and doesn’t that sound childish to say? It’s true, though, since you’re waiting up on this stage with him. 

Your robes for this ceremony are different from his. The title you hold in the town is just as one of its Riders, and then some more floofy ceremonial titles that no one really says unless they’re reading a piece of paper. Rider Soter Dave, Light Be Upon Him, Giver of Fire. Blah, blah, Blah. You’re still dressed differently. Different clothes than the ceremonial ones for festivals, still irritatingly flowy and long-sleeved, still covered in shiny bits. 

John gets to wear something fitting his title as the Earl’s son. You get to sparkle.

Whatever.

Oh hey, there’s Roxy.

You elbow John. “You’re gonna have a great night, yeah Egbert? My sister’s a strong lady,” you tease him. 

He punches you. You laugh.

Jade pops in, and you give her a sidelong look. She glares at you in a bit of challenge, and you let it go. Probably had important State business to attend to or something. You move back to let Rose and Dirk situate the train and veil, and then they stand with you. 

You catch Karkat’s eye across the room. He grins at you, a break in his stony disposition, and you smile back. Of course he gives you a small wave and looks away, ever the proper one, before you can do anything to really respond. It’s no matter, though, you’ll get the chance at the party. You catch his mother’s eye, and she grins at you as well. 

You let yourself smile back, and look back over to the ceremony.

Man, the look in John’s eyes. He’s so in love. When his dad begins to speak, you’re reminded of how grateful you are that your own father decided to fuck off shortly after you and Rose were born. Roxy has a good enough father in the Earl of Egbert, now. That sky-pirate-wannabe-assassin-asshole isn’t here. 

When John and Roxy kiss, it definitely isn’t for the first time. You’ve interrupted enough private moments in dark hallways that you’re sure were supposed to be very cute. With Roxy being your sister, and you needing to get around them to go somewhere, you got more irritated than distracted by cuteness. 

In the end, they have a lovely ceremony. You play your part, and hoot at the end, and all that.

 

 

* * *

 

What, was that transition too fast?

You’re at the party now, and you’re waiting at the gate. For the young mister Vantas to show up, of course. He’s your friend, why wouldn’t you wait for him? At the gate? For fifteen minutes? To escort him in? While you’re waiting, you hear a scuffle, and some almost supersonic chirping coming from the field behind the estate. The chirping is Equius, with his echolocation. Aradia’s back there; she and Equius are… play-fighting? She has so much energy. You _really_ hope they’re not flirting. 

Ah, and then he’s there. When he walks toward you, you take a moment to admire the lines of his uniform. Hopefully you’re retaining some semblance of subtlety. It wouldn’t matter if you weren’t. Karkat looks great. The military getup really suits him.

His good posture and constantly stern expression are a good fit for the smooth lines of the jacket. Like he was born to wear it. And the shoulder cape, thrown over his shoulder as he walks up without his mother in tow, glints tiny reflections from the silver braid onto his face. 

Man. 

It’s still odd having him at the same eye level as you. A bit higher, actually. 

Of course you offer him your arm, and he refuses. Of course. He’s not a lady. Not that you haven’t had a man or two take your arm in your travels, on the way to the dance floor. Of course, you’re not on the way to the dance floor. And Vantas might not appreciate it the same way those folk had. All context. 

The previous night, talking was great. The easy conversation you’d missed, the solid presence of Karkat at your side. He seemed to, no matter what kind of mood he was in with you, shove a stake into your flow of time and pin it down. It was hard not to want to spend time around it. It’d been like that since the beginning. It wasn’t the only thing keeping you around, but it didn’t hurt. 

_You (me kronos kin) and (flustered-blood-scar-friend-black-hair-trusted) seem to have similar magic (energy body keeps plane never stops protect be there help others valiant hero)! It roots you both!_

_**I thought you were spending time with Equius?**_ You ask Aradia after she speaks up. You and Vantas have similar base magic types? Karkat having magic in his blood doesn’t surprise you. His father was a rider. Now, the type… It was something you had an inkling about, but your personal magic isn’t that strong. It’s hard for you to sense other types, let alone if people have the magical energies.

_I was (am are will be) but he (blue slimy fun loud strong) is still getting used to the new bond (connection slipstream blonde human-kin-pink-magic) and needed (needs will need has needed need) to come visit John (blue magic wind-kin black hair)!_

_**Ah, okay.** _

People are clapping as you move to your table, and John and Roxy have that first dance as a wedded couple. You put some food into your mouth. Vantas, next to you, is doing the same. Sitting next to him, eating is simple. No flashes of the food decaying, or worse, living. Of course, this makes it sound like you have no control over your abilities. The subtle observations of time have mostly faded into the background. You know you can only know them because Aradia’s magic augments so well through you.

Vantas’s magic pinning yours down… you wonder what it is that makes it happen. Similar magics don’t do that. What aspect of him is interacting with you this way? A quick question shot to Aradia shows you that she doesn’t know. It’s not a very common magic, and she’s not very good at putting it in words. Not that she’s normally very good at putting these things into words. A concept comes to her, though. Warm, connected, family, community, bonds. 

Well, that’s weird. 

You loosen your grip a little on the connection between you and her, and she bounds off into the nether. Metaphorically. 

Back in the outside world, you tease John and your sister, ignore that your mom is getting awfully close with the Earl of Egbert, and enjoy the wedding. 

And what a wedding it is. It’s as happy an occasion as there can be. Bowls overflowing with autumn fruit, plates lined with gold, tables and walls hung with ribbon. Enchanted lamps hang above you, floating on their own, and you attribute that to your mom’s genius. The band of dark shadowed players is even playing merrier tunes than usual. 

When Rose stoops down to talk to Karkat, she has a look in her eyes, like you need to pay attention. You do. She asks about the charm. Did she See something? Her eyes do that Thing like she’s Seen something. That hazy glazy Thing. She leaves with some more words, and then goes over to your mother. What?

You’re very alert, suddenly. Is there trouble? Something in her eyes tells you that all will be alright, with this. It doesn’t make you worry any less. You have to force yourself to relax. 

Jade asks Karkat to dance before you can get the chance. 

When Karkat looks to you in desperation, asking for help, you act powerless. The frustration in his eyes makes you grin, because you know he’ll enjoy himself. So long ago, at the festival? He looked so much like he wanted to join in. And you’ll be damned if you won’t let him have some fun with Jade. 

And they do. They have fun. For a soldier, Karkat is surprisingly smooth on his feet. Not even mentioning the metal leg. He seems to easily adapt to the way Jade moves, and soon enough they’re spinning and laughing. Karkat’s face is so open when he smiles. 

A burst of unreasonable jealousy has you standing two songs later, and walking over to the two of them. As you pass Dirk, he claps you on the shoulder blade. You give him an obscene gesture behind your back, and he laughs out loud. 

“Put those new skills to use, squirt,” he tells you, and you walk away. 

At their next pass, you catch Karkat’s hand. Jade laughs, and you know that’s your cue. 

“May I have this dance?” You ask him, and there’s so much surprise on his face. 

“Of course, sire Strider,” Jade is saying, and you can’t look away from Karkat’s eyes. Did you do the wrong thing? You keep smiling, though, unfaltering in your intent.

You take his other hand, and his face is darkening in a very exquisite blush. 

“Strider,” he begins, as if scolding. 

“Vantas,” you reply, sending it straight back. 

And his blush darkens further. 

Whenever you can rid him of his brutal stoicism, it always makes your stomach swoop. To make him act his age, like the young adult he is… it just makes you want to do it more.

You lead him back, by his hands, and slip a palm to his trim waist when the music ends, and then changes. 

This song you picked out by hand, asking the dark musicians when you got here to make sure they knew it. You had asked Dirk to teach you the footwork, when you remembered during the trip back that Karkat’s mother had taught him some steps. It was a perfect opportunity. Learning the full dance had taken some time, but it was simple enough, and Dirk was fairly patient with you. He still whacked you every time you got things wrong. 

As you pass around Karkat for the first time, moving with the slow cant of the violin, you hold his gaze. There’s heat there, whether he can feel it or not. You learned this for him. Only for him. You had wondered why you wanted to impress him so badly, at first. It took up too much time to think about.

When Karkat’s face is full of awe and… something else as you come back into his field of vision, you know the answer to that wonderment. 

You catch his hand again, wind your fingers through his. You can pinpoint the exact moment he breaks from the trance you have him in. His breath stutters, his eyes flicker between yours, and his pupils just barely expand. Creepy of you to notice, but you’re just that close. 

When he moves into the next set, turning around you instead, toes carefully placed and fingers trailing the thin fabric of your clothing, you’re overjoyed. He remembered. You got it right. He laughs, too, and victory shoots through your chest and heart. The hot punch of affection into your gut makes you laugh, too. 

His face lights up like the sun as he asks you where you learned the dance. His foot fails to hold him, he trips, and you catch him. His skin is so warm on your palm, even through the layers of his shirt. 

There has never been a brighter night.

 

 

* * *

 

You should have known.

That Sollux guy gave you a bad feeling. 

It _wasn’t_ just jealousy. It was an inkling. It wasn’t you being disappointed at not spending time with your friend. Not _just_ that. 

Man, Dirk had even comforted you about not being able to spend more time with him. Or he’d tried, at least. And for this to happen, too.

Aradia follows you above the rooftops of the alleyways as you sprint ahead of mom. 

This is Karkat’s first officer from the Third Great War. Ironically named a Great War, despite the short length. Great in casualties, Great in cruelty. You try to remember everything Karkat said before, how his eyes got misty and dark when he spoke of his first officer. You should have known. But how could you have known? Karkat only had good things to say. 

But Karkat looked so comfortable, settling back into what he probably was during the war. Before the leg.

As you turn the last corner, you recall Karkat sinking into a persona in front of his old friend. A persona you _wish_ you knew. Peeling away from you. You had a bad feeling about Captor, you had a bad feeling about his motives. You thought nothing of it because a lot of high-rank soldiers you’ve encountered had strange magic attached to them. 

When you’d gotten back to the table, Rose had said that ‘that isn’t what tactical magic feels like.’ Rose’s eyes had filmed over, oozing white energy as she spoke in the echoes of a hundred other voices. 

“Find Karkat Vantas. He is in danger.”

Well, you found him. 

You almost wish you hadn’t. 

When Karkat releases this _moan_ , you nearly trip over. They’re impassioned, wrapped up in one another and three steps away from having less clothes and less honor and even less care about anyone else. Captor’s hands are pressing up into the scarred skin you’ve only seen in passing, baring Karkat’s neck and _something is more wrong than your sudden heat and jealousy._

Wait.

Mom skids to a halt behind you, and gasps. 

_The charm (bone ash iron wood protection light magic help) is in his(stranger why mating dark hair friend scar) fangs(teeth canines incisors tusks jaw bone rip tear)!_

And you See it. 

The dark cloud of magic in Captor’s mouth as he rips the leather band from around Karkat’s neck.

“You’re mine,” Captor says, no, the person 'inside' him says, and you’re seeing only red.

You leap toward them, tackling Captor to the ground without so much as a second thought. You find yourself yelling something, even as you grip him around the neck with one elbow and wrench him bodily away. 

Shoving Sollux’s face away from Karkat is the easy part. Keeping him from getting back up proves a slight more difficult, but soon enough your mother is tending to your friend. 

And Karkat is broken, he looks _broken_ when you look back at him. Suddenly all you want to do is maim and tear, and it’s so difficult to keep yourself under wraps.

_**Aradia! Calm down!** _

_He(wrong bad magic old friend) has hurt my friend (dark hair scar knight)! She snarls in your head, accompanied by a bright burst of lava in the back of her throat, and a searing growl._

Thankfully, she hasn’t jumped down. You still have to struggle to not strangle the man flailing beneath you. Or rip his throat out. Or fit your teeth about his windpipe in a threat. It’s a terrifying feeling. Instead of acting on anything, though, you turn a little and focus on Karkat. Mom is taking the dark magic out of him, even as he gasps at the horror inside himself. She draws away, and doesn’t waste any time getting over to you. 

As soon as Captor stops squirming, you get off of him about halfway. He’s gonna have some scrapes from the stones on the path. A vindictive part of yourself just does. Not. Care. The more guilty part of you feels bad about using such violence. The reassuring part of you says a sudden jolt was very good for snapping him out of the magic and not letting him use any of it on you.

The dragon part of you still wants to rip out his throat. Honor is kind of big with dragons. 

Almost right after you get your weight off him, he starts hissing unintelligible claptrap, pleading at first, and then sinking into viciousness. When he calms down, and slips back into crying, your mother nods at you, and you stand. 

Karkat’s still there, against that wall, looking more betrayed and confused than you’ve ever seen. It’s honestly more emotion on his face than you’ve ever seen, too. When you walk back up to him, he’s straightened his jacket. He’s making an attempt to be more put together. That’s a good sign, right? 

“Are you okay? I thought he was acting a little funny but I left anyway. I should have been here,” you’re saying, then, and then immediately kicking yourself. What kind of question is that? You should have just left it at asking if he was okay. 

“I’m…” he murmurs, and it’s so quiet you almost can’t hear it. He takes a deep breath. 

Impulsively, desperately, you ask something else. “What happened? Did he hurt you at all? You’re not under the charm anymore, so I need to ask.” Yeah. Hide your worry with logic.

You just… you can’t have him not be okay. 

“No. He didn’t hurt me,” Karkat says. His voice is shaking, and you’re trying not to crowd him. He looks so… he looks so horrified at himself. Brows drawn, chin pointed south, and fingers quaking where they’re hanging, he’s so… it’s not good. Karkat barely ever loses his composure like this. 

Even that day when he was gone to you and the world, he was more composed. Sitting a little less straight than usual, sure, but he was still stolid in appearance. Well, he also wasn’t seeing anything that day. It was frightening. Karkat was completely gone, blank, unhearing, pale. When you’d asked Smith Vantas, she’d said it was normal. At least, he hadn’t done it near as much since spending time with you. 

It was days like that, back toward the beginning, when you thought that maybe you didn’t want to invest as much energy into this friendship. But he was surly, strong, and he drew you. Always talked to you when you spoke to him. For some reason, Vantas drew people like a magnet. Maybe it was that magic Aradia mentioned. But Karkat was so _interesting_. You wanted to know more about him. You still do.

In the beginning, you had wanted to know his story. This interesting new person in the village where everything was always the same. And he was related to Smith Vantas, who was interesting enough in her own right. 

That first time he’d told you a piece of himself that you couldn’t see, it captivated you. His father was dead. His father had been a rider. He was in pain. His leg was gone and his face was so deeply scarred. His voice was deep, crackling, rough; a voice you wanted to listen to.

John and Jade were out of town, too, and Rose and your other siblings were always busy. So you had no peers. Sure, screw you for wanting to spend time with someone your age. And he was your age. You found that out soon enough, from his mother. A couple of years older than you, actually. Just two, though. At twenty-seven and twenty-five summers, you were close enough.

And you had learned his story, piece by piece. The more you learned, the more healing you saw him in need of. You patched together small anecdotes and information. He would say something about a fellow officer in conversation, would say what the Queen smelled like when she handed him his death sentence, would mention his father’s job as a messenger, would mention his father’s dragon who was almost like a second father, or even a grandfather. Just in passing, you learned these things, and filed them away. For all that you learned, he didn’t speak much. 

But every new thing you learned, you drew yourself closer. It was a typical friendship, a slow build with bickering and hanging out and all that. But these sides of weakness that you would never see in someone like John, or Jade, or Terezi, even, most of the time. They made you want to shelter him, and fix him.

Now, it wasn’t your job to fix him. But you could support his healing, and that was enough, right? You could be the constant.

“It was a spell, Karkat,” you say to him, softly. “He hasn’t been the friend you know since he got here, probably.”

“What?” Karkat asks. He’s bewildered. Shocked, confused, and you would be too if your closest friend for upwards of five years had been involved in this.

“He was probably sent here to get that charm bag off your neck so that someone could take you out. You told me that he wasn’t due until later in the winter, I remember that.”

“How do you remember so much, you clod?” 

You can’t help it, and you grin. It's shaky. 

“He…” he tries, quiet again. It’s hard to keep from scowling. Sollux is still sobbing quietly behind you. Karkat doesn’t seem to notice.

You offer to take him away.

 

 

* * *

 

Karkat immediately limps upstairs when you get to the Roost. Aradia looks at you, confused. 

_Should I follow (followed following)?_

_**Not yet**_ , you reply. Damara growls lowly with concern, and stands up. She smells the dark magic on you, and the growl changes to something else. You place your fingers on her snout, familiarizing her with the scent.

Dirk asks you what’s going on. He probably came back here to wait for more instruction. When you tell him, he lets loose a string of curses and leaves. 

Up in the loft, behind the open curtain, you can make out Karkat huddled in the window. You sigh, and move to change clothes. Aradia sends you some concern in the back of your mind, and you tell her that you’ve got it handled without so many words. Still seeming a little worried and protective, but not inclined to refuse you, she moves to her blanket pile. 

When you get upstairs, Karkat stares at you. And Light, when he talks, you just want to hug him forever. But he probably wouldn’t like that. You sit down next to him, and you explain spell stuff. Karkat winds up like a spring as you speak. You find an apple under the windowsill next to you.

It’s silent for awhile, so you retrieve it, and set about peeling it with your knife. You offer him a slice. He looks so confused for a second, before taking it in his fingers. His fingers that terrified you so much that night in his house, his fingers that were so strong on the handle of his weapon. 

You hadn’t missed the dried blood on the blade, or the cuts on the steel. And now, those same fingers tremble a little as he takes the apple. You pray he won’t disappear again. 

Thought his breathing evens out as he swallows the food, and his shoulders straighten. There we go. You did something right. 

“Feeling any better?” You ask, after a time, and hand him another piece. When you look back down at the fruit in your hands, you’re a little surprised by how much of it you’ve eaten. In your own nerves, maybe? 

“Sort of,” he says. He nibbles. You decide to just finish the apple, and leave the core aside for Aradia. 

“You wanna talk about it at all?” You ask him.

“No,” he snaps at you. It’s not surprising, and you don’t let yourself flinch. Letting him come to you, letting him talk to you. He trusts you, he wants to be your friend. Maybe more, but that’s really not what’s important right now. No matter how good the lines of his face look in the moonlight.

A deep breath.

“Alright,” you reply. As gently as you can. 

And then he _leans into you._

It takes all of your will not to stiffen, not to jolt. Because you want to be here for him. He’s your friend. 

And then he tells you a story.

You hadn’t known about the fraternization. Isn’t that… forbidden, in the army? Especially an officer and his superior. But you’ve seen the horrors of war. You’ve only seen, just in passing and in veterans, so you have no real idea what it’s like. That experience alone made you want to go back home and cower. No wonder they turned to each other for comfort. Distraction. Anything.

A spark of knowledge forces itself to the front of your brain, then, something about Karkat officially being interested in men. The thought is insane, right now, and so incredibly selfish that you’re disgusted with yourself. 

And even through that disgust, you ask if Captor broke Karkat’s heart. 

And you ruin your windowsill.

 

 

* * *

 

That night, after you drop Karkat at home, you head back to the mansion. Mom will be questioning Sollux. He’s an assassin, officially, and will be questioned. Your mother has some ideas about who it might be trying to get at Karkat, but she’s not sure. Rose finds herself incapable of actually scrying it, no matter how hard she tries. There’s a hard barrier of harmful arcana in the way. 

Roxy at some point tried summoning the assassin, and got blasted by that same magic. Whoever he or she is, they’re powerful. Whoever is sitting at the top of this food chain. 

Captor is sitting in a small, warded side room when you get there. Rose is standing in front of him, and takes you back out into the dark hallway and closes the door before you can do anything. 

“I don’t want you getting rash, David,” she tells you, trying to catch your eyes. 

You let her. She would be able to, anyway. 

She’s just barely shorter than you now, as she slouches, and her lipstick is faded from the long day. Your twin opens her mouth, and then closes it. Troubled. Curious. Not able to trace the magic, you can tell. Oh, and you can tell. She’s got that expression that means ‘I have an unsolvable riddle that I’m avoiding here’. 

“I’ll be on my best behavior,” you inform her, and she looks a little doubtful. For good reason. If anyone would know how to read you by now, it would be her. And she definitely knows how to tell when your feelings for someone are strong enough to get in the way of business. And she’s watched you interact with Karkat. But you’re not trying to hide it. Especially not from her. 

“I will let you in, but I’ll have you know that Dirk is already in there, and you’ll have to wait to question him. We’re attempting to search and parse his soul for clues.”

That thought makes you uncomfortable. “This man was a pawn,” you tell her. “It’s very likely that he knows absolutely nothing.”

Rose quirks her mouth a little bit. You shift. “Are you feeling compassionate for the man who tried to kill Karkat Vantas?” She asks. 

And then you frown. “Yes,” you tell her. “He was used.” She’s teasing you, trying to get a rise. Why does she always do that? Why does she always have to get some kind of negative emotion out of you to feel… accomplished? Whole?

Rose’s smile fades. “Yes, well. We’re not hurting him. He’s not happy to be there, but we’re not delving too deep. The traces of the magic only go to a shallow depth. Not a very good spell.”

You relax, then, feeling a bit more comfortable about it. But Rose pulls a hand up to her face, rubbing her cheek. Man, she _is_ puzzled, then. “The one who placed the spell, though. She has light magic. Like me.”

“You can tell it’s a she?” You ask, and you’re suddenly a little more interested. 

Rose’s brow furrows. So she’s not sure. This is… interesting. You push past her. 

“Alright,” you say, and step into the room. Dirk is glowing a light, light orange, and his fingers are on Captor’s temples. Captor is sweating profusely, obviously from the soul searching, made that much worse because he’s resisting. You don’t blame him for resisting, even if he did nothing wrong. The soul searching feels wrong in your skin and heart when done to you; you know from experience. 

Dirk stops, sighing, and removes his fingers. He looks up at you and shrugs. Nothing, then. Was it a magic meant to leave a low signature? Or is it someone used to not leaving evidence of their soul? Someone sneaky, someone a little like Roxy in how they perform. Someone used to dealing with other soul presence in their mind. A rider? That wouldn’t make sense, though. 

When you look down at the heterochromatic eyes of the captive, he’s scowling at you. He’s pallid, tired, maybe even a little pained? Most likely from sitting in that chair, stuck there. His wrists and ankles are tied down. 

“Who sent you?” You try. Just for the hell of it.

He very obviously remembers you from earlier. There’s recognition, stark, in his features. 

“Why do you care?” He croaks. 

“Get him some water or something,” you tell your siblings. They’re not very good at knowing peoples’ needs. You wonder where Mom is. She probably went to bed already, since she has a town to watch over during the day. 

Sollux’s voice cracks, raw, like the desert. “You his new guy or something?” He asks, venom on his teeth. When you turn your head back to him, he’s got his eyes narrowed at you. Slitted eyes, curled lip. 

“He doesn’t need you,” he almost hisses. Dirk hands him water and you take a deep breath while he gulps it. Harsh words, harsh words. “No one needs you. I certainly don’t need you playing good guy.”

There must be a part of the spell that’s making him react like this when anyone mentions it. Or maybe he’s just tired, and has no idea what you need to know. 

“And get him food, too. I’ll even feed it to him, if you want. Light, neither of you are good at taking care of other human beings,” you tell your siblings present. They have the gall to look slightly guilty before Rose throws up her hands and leaves. They’re both entirely too persistent, as well. 

“You don’t even care as much about KK as I do,” Captor says to you. He’s not doing anything extreme. 

He’s a pawn. You have to remember that. If you look closely, his eyes are ringed red. He misses his friend. He’s the jealous one, now. If he could see how close you were to Karkat… that would not help with the residual aftereffects of the spell. 

“You can’t help him, no matter how hard you try,” Sollux says, and Aradia snarls in the back of your mindscape. Everything is tinted red. 

So much for controlling yourself. 

Dirk shoves you out of the room, yelling at you. Yeah, you deserve it. 

You only got one punch in, though. 

When you go back later and apologize, it’s not accepted. 

You deserve that, too.

 

 

* * *

 

When you leave again for your travels, Karkat sees you off this time. 

He seems angry with you, but in a tolerant way. Like you’re a dog that was left alone too long and chewed up his boot. 

Dirk works you harder in training than he did before for a few weeks, and has you go through some anger control sessions with him. He’s used to it, with how much he needs to suppress Damara’s moods in himself. 

Karkat still sends you the first letter. 

When you get it, after only two weeks on the move, it makes you feel so warm inside.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all, just popping in for a mid-week surprise chapter as a little celebration for reaching 200 kudos! 
> 
> I hope everyone enjoyed seeing a little bit of what Dave's thinking and his history! 
> 
> :) As usual I hope everyone is having a great week and I love y'all!


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